Potato facts

The kids pictured above are girls and boys from a school in Peru in South America. They are proudly displaying some of the potatoes they just harvested from their school garden. In Peru, people love to grow and eat potatoes. In fact, the Peruvians practically invented the potato!

Scientists think the first potatoes were cultivated about 8 000 years ago by communities of hunters and gatherers near Lake Titicaca - high in the Andes mountains, on the border between Peru and Bolivia. Those first farmers obtained the cultivated potato by domesticating wild potato plants that grew around the lake in abundance. Over the following millennia, people in the Andes developed potato varieties for growing at different altitudes and in different climates.

The International Potato Center in Peru has identified about 4 300 different varieties of potato grown in the Andes! As you can see from the samples above, they come is a very big range of colours, shapes and sizes.

In 1532 the Spaniards invaded Peru in search of gold. But the real treasure they took back to Europe was the potato. Over the next 300 years, the potato became a staple crop in Europe and began its voyage eastwards, towards India, China and Japan.

All around the world!
Potato farming has spread from the Andes to more than 100 countries. You will find potatoes being grown on China's Yunnan plateau, the subtropical lowlands of India, the steppes of Ukraine, in the highlands of Rwanda, and as far north as Finland.

Yes! Potato is the world's No. 4 food crop,
after maize, wheat and rice.

Because potatoes are rich in carbohydrates, which makes them a good source of energy. They are have high content of vitamin C and potassium, and protein that is well matched to human needs.

Another reason is that potatoes are easy to grow even in harsh environments. They also produce a lot of food very quickly from a small area of land. Because they grow under the ground, potatoes are also less prone to damage than other crops.

That depends on the region. The chart below shows that in Europe, people eat 96 kg (or about 212 lb) of potatoes, per person, in a year. In the developing regions, such as Africa, Asia and Latin America, people eat a loss less - but their potato intake is increasing all the time.

In 2007, potato farmers harvested more than 320 million tonnes (that's 353 million US tons)!

In 2007, the top potato growers in the world were these countries:

Today potatoes are grown on an estimated 192 000 sq km (or 74 000 square miles) of farmland, which is just a little smaller than the US potato-growing state of Idaho.

Usually, farmers plant a small potato (known as "seed potato") where one to two sprouts (or "eyes") have formed. Each seed potato grows into a plant that can produce from two to 20 new tubers. The new potatoes are ready to harvest when the leaves of the plant start to turn yellow and die.

It depends on the local climate. In the tropics farmers can harvest potatoes within 90 days of planting. In colder places, such as Argentina, Canada and northern Europe, it takes up to 150 days.

Yes, the potato plant produces flowers that turn into small, green berries (below).

Most potatoes are grown by planting other potatoes. But scientists are developing ways of growing potatoes using "true potato seed" - real seeds, obtained from the berries. In every berry there are from 100 to 400 tiny seeds.

Green parts of the skin and the leaves of the plant contain a toxic compound. (But poisoning from potatoes is very rare.)
Cutting away green areas and peeling potatoes before cooking ensures healthy eating.